Don’t Be Afraid, You’ve Got Me!

October 22, 2021

Handsome Prince abandoned in one of the gardens at the hospital, was brought to Neema Village a few months ago. He had been well cared for and left with a note telling us his name and medical records. It is so sad that this poor mother felt she had no choice but to leave her sweet little boy. A Tanzanian woman who had been wanting a baby for a long time adopted him.

We have been wondering when God would send a forever family for little abandoned baby, Hope. Her mother, who had wanted a boy, left the hospital to get some food and never returned. A member of parliament came this month to adopt this baby. It is always our hope and prayer that these babies find a loving and stable home and that they find Jesus there as well. Go with God Little Hopie, remember we loved you first.

When you have little resources in your life you can feel very alone and afraid. That is how Esther felt talking to Kim and our Women’s Rights attorney, Winnie last week. Esther speaks Maasai and leads the Birthers around campus below. She gets them to class, activities and meals.

She is one of the young girls living in an orphanage down the street for Maasai girls who have run away from their villages usually to keep from marrying an old man. Esther was caught in a pre arranged marriage with a huge bride price already paid. She ran away and we were visiting the little Swahili church down the road a couple of years ago when her mother walked seven hours in from the village to see if her daughter was ok. It was a tearful reunion and a bit hush-hush because money and cows were involved and the husband was looking for his run-a-way bride. (Esther below reading her Maasai Bible)

Esther told Kim how angry the jilted husband was and how he was harassing her family in the village and now her father is beating her mother to get the money from Esther. Kim set up a counseling meeting with Winnie, the Women’s Rights attorney. When the meeting in the office was over and Esther was crying and saying how alone she has felt with this problem Winnie, the attorney, got up, went around the desk, put her arms around her and said, “Don’t be afraid, you’ve got me!” Kim says that has become the new mantra around Neema when volunteers, moms and staff express a problem they are facing, “Don’t be afraid, you’ve got me!”

Sweet new baby Judith (above) came to Neema Village this week, another little one who will never know her mother. It is so sad to lose important, well known, big people in the world but who will know and who will cry for these little ones? Bless you for following their stories and supporting them.

Updates from the last blog; the mom with the baby with the horrible skin condition (above) has been at Neema in quarantine for about 3 weeks and is looking better. We have moved her out of quarantine and into the MAP houses. She looks so happy now and I am sure that baby feels better.

The mom who came to Neema with a horribly burned leg had surgery and is doing well. Her husband was abusive but she is in our MAP program now and is living in the May MAP houses on campus. She will join the Women’s Rights classes and learn that she has the right not to be beaten. Many African women do not know that!

I pray that we all know today that we are not alone. Jesus tells us in Matthew 28:20 “Surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.”

We Need Some Power!

October 9. 2021

Baby Ruth came to Neema in September with her 18 year old mother, an orphan herself, who had some very horrible things done to her and as a result became pregnant and contracted HIV. We are not sure what the future will hold for this little one. Please be praying for emotional healing that only God can give to this young mother. We are grateful to be able to stand in the gap for this mom and her baby but with five new babies this month we cannot do this work of God without you.

We have had a great group of volunteers this month thinking up fun things for the babies to do. They worked hard, loved well, sang a lot and played good. Exactly what we love about our volunteers. Bless you Jack and Sylvia Pape, Paul Pape, Ken and Joan Preslar, Joy and Mike Stevens, Ryan and Valene Roseke, Stacie Schaefer, Marquisette Bickford, Edwina Gramuska, Sophia Hays and our long term volunteers, Ashley Berlin, Kassie Stanfield, Bekah Johnson and Director Kim White on the right.

Kim and Bekah have had to deal with some tough problems this month including this desperate mom who showed up with her baby needing help. We took them to two different hospitals but neither hospital would take them. The baby does look very contagious. Kim brought them back to Neema and they are in isolation in the Mothering Center. Our nannies are bringing them food.

Another mom, Mary came to Neema Village looking for help this month. Her husband used to beat her and had left the family when she was pregnant. He took all the family belongings except the foam mattress Mary and her four children were sleeping on. When she couldn’t pay the rent she became homeless and would walk the village, dragging the mattress, during the day asking for a room for the little family to spend the night. This is where Anna and volunteers met her. in a borrowed room

She said the people she stayed with would give her clothes but it became a big thing and she could not carry the clothes too as she went house to house so she would leave them on the road. Anna loaded up her few belongings and brought her to Neema Village. Now Mary has a room with two beds, a table and chairs, a stove, pots and pans, blankets and sheets and a safe place to sleep. Praise God and thank you to the beautiful people who built this house for these homeless moms. Mary will begin classes at Neema, including the Women’s Rights Classes which teach these women they have the right not to be beaten. She will start a vegetable business soon. You can help these moms by donating to the MAP (Mothers Against Poverty) program at Neema Village, just put MAP on the purpose line.

The poor mom below came to Neema with a horribly burned leg. She says a pot of porridge was spilled down her leg but she also says her husband pushed her. She has been dealing with this huge burn for quite a few months. Neema took her for surgery yesterday along with Flora, one of our MAP moms who also had a burned foot.

With 55 babies currently in house, 87 MAP moms, going to classes and seminars, 75 full time staff, 12 special needs babies, and 13 buildings on campus Neema Village is a busy place. It takes a lot just to keep the place running and the lights on! The red buildings with green roofs were built for $24 a square foot. They look magnificent but they are just cement blocks and tin roofs with no air conditioning. They just had a good designer. The baby home was first drawn out on a napkin in the cafeteria of Harding University with Bob Gibson! Thanks Paul Pape for this different view of the village.

With 13 buildings on campus it takes a lot of power to keep everything running. We often do not have enough power to run the milking machines, water pumps, hot water heaters or pasteurizing machine so we are trying to get our own power lines and transformer.

I Didn’t Know

September 27, 2021

Many of our babies at Neema Village came to us because their Maasai mom died in childbirth, including our little granddaughter Maria (below). Maria’s mom was the 8th wife of a village chief. The little baby, Anna, is another baby from Maria’s village who lost her mom in childbirth. New little twins at Neema also came from this small village.

This week we had our second “Save The Mothers” session at Neema Village. Save the Mothers is a one week intensive safe birthing training program. We bring traditional birthing attendants from remote Maasai villages into Neema Village where they stay with us. They participate in 6 days of safe birthing classes and cover a wide variety of topics from basics of female anatomy (KiMaasai does not always have a word for things like placenta) to successfully resolving shoulder dystocia and many things in between.

Kassie was the teacher again and you might ask why a CPA is teaching a class on safe birthing and there are two main reasons. First of all we didn’t have a doctor volunteer, Kassie did. Then a doctor who helped Kassie write the program said, “You know, Kassie, a doctor could not do this. He knows too much, his head is too full of knowledge and he could not condense it down to one week!” So Kassie did!

It was not all school for the Bibis (Grandmothers) they did get to spend some time with our Maasai babies at the Montana house. And yes, that is big boy Phillip below.

They learned how to do CPR on a baby, learned about uterine inversion, breech birth and other complications that cause so much trouble for them.

At graduation Kassie had each woman stand up and tell something they learned this week that they did not know. With tears in her eyes, one woman said, “I didn’t know that FGM was killing our mothers, I didn’t know.”

The picture above is women from Maria’s Maasai village. We have 4 babies from this one village whose moms died in childbirth. We are praying because of this class we will lose no more. You can be a part of something that makes a huge difference in the lives of these women. This program is costing Neema Village $3,917. We will do as many sessions this year as we get the money for.

Why Are We Doing This Program?

August 12, 2021

They had gathered under a tree in a remote Maasai village for the first progress report of baby deliveries since the “Save The Mothers” seminar held at Neema Village in June 2021.

Once again we were overjoyed and a bit amazed that seven of the birthers actually showed up for the meeting.

Below there’s a Kassie in those hugs somewhere! She remembered all their names and each one had to grab her for a big Maasai hug.

We had brought three of our volunteers, Heather Klos, Deborah Goppelt and Rachel Lanford out to see a Maasai village. They loved seeing the women break into happy songs and dancing when they saw Kassie.

The seven Birthers had brought along a few friends and the meeting progressed with over 50 women present, all of them wanting us to do a seminar in their village to teach them how to save babies. This seminar tackles the main obstetric complications that kill mothers and babies in childbirth.

We were quite happy to see an actual written report (below) since most of these women do not read or write. We learned that since the seminar these seven birthers had delivered 22 babies. Only one had lost a baby. She reported the mom was still in primary school, (that is between ages 7 to 13) and she knew immediately she would have trouble. The girl was too small to safely have a baby. But we were happy she had saved the mom.

They each reported using some of the techniques Kassie had taught them, two used infant CPR to save babies who would have previously died. One even used the Shoulder Dystocia procedures with a mom who had been in hard labor for over 24 hours saving both the mom and baby.

To make this seminar so much more important for us, three new babies came to Neema this month from Maasai villages after their moms died.

I could not stop the tears when I found that she is from our little granddaughter, Maria’s village. Her father was Maria’s mother’s brother. Little Anna is Maria’s cousin. Now two moms from this small village will never see their little girls grow up, never see them marry and have children of their own. My heart hurts.”

August 2021- Moses (below) came to Neema a few days ago. He is healthy weighing 7.7 lbs. He was born July 13th, through a cesarean. His mother was in the hospital for three days and sadly died due to hemorrhaging. Moses’ grandmother would like to care for him but the family says she is too old. His great aunt did come with him to Neema to see him settled. She may be able to care for him eventually. We know God has good plans for this little guy. Neema will keep him healthy, loved, and happy till his forever family comes.

Baby Bahati which means “Good Luck” lost her mom this week from possible high blood pressure during childbirth. Bahati is three months old but looks about one month. She cannot lift her head.

These three little new ones at Neema Village who lost their mothers make us realize we must work harder and faster in this Save The Mothers program. Our next safe birthing seminar is scheduled for the middle of September. That will be to one village but there are many villages calling for help. Please pray and support this program. We know God’s people have all the money needed to support His work. We just have to tell the story.

Way More Good Than Bad

July 11, 2021

Thursday we went out to see the triplet girls, Anna, Esther and Deborah who had lived at Neema for two years after their birth. We always love visiting our babies who have returned home especially this sweet family. Their original mud house is in the back and their newer cement house is in front.

Most of our babies go home to families that are able to send them to school, like one of our abandoned babies who was adopted by a surgeon in Dar. Unfortunately some of them need help going to school when they return home. Our second set of triplets, Anna, Esther and Deborah are a part of our outreach school kids program and Thursday we went out to see how they were doing in school.

Above, our beautiful triplet girls are looking at Neema’s business card which has their picture on it. If you have followed Neema you have probably seen this picture below. It is on all our business cards.

Three of these babies above came to Neema in July of 2012 a few hours after their birth. Their mother was close to death and the babies were very small so we brought all of them with the mother to Neema. Deborah weighed 1.13 kg when Michael went out to pick them up.

Now they are big school girls and Ashley and I along with a couple of volunteers had gone out to see how they were doing in school.

They are in a government school and their grades are not good. It was the only school available when they first went home but now there is a new English Medium school out in their area and we will to try to get them moved to the new school. Government schools are crowded and have very little equipment. Private schools are expensive but we want the girls to have a good education.

They brought out the drum (the blue bucket) and we all sang while a couple of our more energetic visitors danced in the back of the room. We had given their mother a sewing machine and she had made the girl’s skirts.

They live by a beautiful river but we had to cross this little stream below to get to the river first. It was about 2 feet deep and they were jumping across when Ashley fell in and was soaking wet. Thank Goodness they brought a board for the rest of us. Poli Sana Ashley!

The triplet girl’s mother, Elisifa, is such a gracious host and fixed us chicken and rice for lunch. I always love her name, it means God is Praised. We love this little family and want the girls to have a good education but they will not get it in the government school.

After we left the triplet girl’s house we stopped by to check on Gloria. Gloria was one of our favorite kids from the beginning of Neema. She had been brought to Neema as a baby almost starved to death. Now she is a big school girl. We had put her grandmother into our MAP program and set her up in a little Duka (shop), so that Gloria could return home. The shop seems to be doing very well.

Ashley looked at Gloria’s school work and we were a bit disappointed when the teachers told us Gloria was 19th in her class. She had been number one in class when we first put her in the school. They said grandmother had not bought her books and she had no exercise books for her homework. We give all our school families 200,000 TSH for uniforms and books so we will need to find out why grandmother did not buy them. I guess without books 19th was not bad.

Then we stopped in to check on Meshack and Ema who are in foster care with one of our MAP moms. She is doing great and Meshack is number one in class and Ema is number four. So proud of this mom and the boys.

We made one final visit on the way home to see a woman who has been keeping a disabled child for ten years. She is retired without an income which is common here and was needing help with diapers and milk for the child. We were quite touched by the years of dedication and love of this sweet woman for a child that was not even hers.

Volunteers Ylva and Billie Axell from Sweden decided to take on the support of this kind woman and Ashley is buying her a blender for preparing food for the child. The kindness of good people always astounds me! In case you have ever wondered there are way more good people in the world than bad!

We all know how important education is for the children of Africa, especially the girls. When you educate a girl you not only change her world you change ours! Thank you to all of you who support our school kids. You will probably never know the far reaching good you have done.

God’s Mercy and Grace

June 4, 2021

After the first MAP visit last week here is Anna’s report:

Anna’s little bundle of rags this morning contained a perfect little baby girl with a slip of bloody rag tied to the umbilical cord.

Kelle Samsill describes this morning:

Salma was worried about her other two young children, five and three, left at home alone so Michael took “Ole Bob” our big truck (Thank You Karen Harmon) and three volunteers with Anna to pick up the two children and the new bed and household items Neema had bought for her last week. She said people would come in and take everything.

And so the little family is reunited again and safe at Neema Village. She doesn’t know it yet but a new and different life is in store for this little mom. Mercy has come to her and Hope is on the way.

In her sweet, soft voice Salma tells Kelle the new baby’s name is Neema. Once again we cry.

With a few more tears we see our precious Dallas off to his new life this afternoon. An abandoned baby, Dallas is being adopted by one of the happiest couples we have ever seen pick up a baby from Neema. I wish I could show you their pictures as they laughed and played with happy little Dallas today but it is their story to tell now.

And so another day of God’s Mercy and Grace ends at Neema Village and these two old folks are ready for bed.

From Black Mamba to Graduation, What A Week!

May 20, 2021

Kids, you would want to stay as far away as possible from this snake! The black mamba struck so fast we missed it!

Just a little less dangerous, Kassie was ready to feed the giraffe on our trip out to visit with the village leaders about the Midwife classes starting this Sunday. We have never seen so many giraffe along the road and right outside the petrol station.

A new member of Parliament, Mr. Mrisho M. Gambo, came for a visit on Wednesday and brought gifts of food and a goat. A friend from our long ago Chimala days came with him; it was fun to get caught up on the family.

Tuesday was an amazing graduation day for our MAP Moms. The Computer classes, Sewing classes and Women’s Rights Program at Neema Village all had graduates this time. Women, who just a few months ago were so beaten down and abused they could hardly hold their heads up, now have hope through the Mothers Against Poverty program. Linnet and her baby, homeless and abandoned by her husband, now has a successful used clothing business and look at that smile of joy as she sings for us!

Margreth who was working at the dump picking up used water bottles took the computer classes and sewing classes at Neema. We are so happy for this young woman.

The sewing classes did a lively style show so we could see the beautiful dresses they each designed and made at the MAP Center.

Tausi was one of sixteen women who received sewing machines at graduation. Last year she had been abandoned by her husband because she had two Albino children. She was begging around a small village outside Arusha when an older woman let her stay with her. There were two adults and five children sleeping in a mud hut that was ready to fall down when we drove out to see if we could help. We cannot say thank you enough for those of you who donated sewing machines. I hope Tausi’s smile says Thank You to you.

After graduation, the women and village leaders walked up to the new MAP Houses. Over a year ago Kristi May came for a visit at Neema Village. We told her of our dream to build small apartment rooms for our MAP moms. When we bring a woman in who has been living on the street or in unsafe places we have been renting houses for them to stay while they rebuild their lives and start their MAP businesses. Kristi emailed later that she wanted to build the houses in memory of her husband Jeffrey Scott May. God’s people showing His love never cease to amaze us!!

Furnishings for the six apartments, beds, stoves, pots, pans, etc were given by another supporter of Neema Village. Purple and white bougainvillea will line the fence in front and there are dobi wash tubs, showers, toilets and a clothes line all across the back for the moms.

The MAP logo on the front was painted by a local artist at the Maasai Market. We chose the name The Mercy House because the women know we are all in great need of God’s Mercy. Rehema means Mercy in Swahili. Titus 3:5 “It was not because of our righteousness but because of His Mercy that He saved us.”

With ribbon cutting, hanging the plaque, cutting the cake, prayers and songs, the MAP houses were dedicated and are now open and ready for the next MAP moms.

Not to forget our babies, new little twins came to Neema last week, Isaya and Isaka. Their mom has HIV and is very depressed. Social Welfare decided she was not able to keep the babies. Hopefully she will be well enough to take the little guys home soon. In the meantime they will need sponsors.

So glad you made it to the bottom of this long blog!

Who Will Cry For Me?

April 13, 2021

Meet our new baby Hope. She is an abandoned baby and our nannies named her Hope, which we love since we have a granddaughter named Hope. Baby Hope was left at the hospital on March 8th. She weighed 4.6 lbs.

Little Hopie has been in the hospital for almost two weeks with pneumonia symptoms. While the babies are in the hospital our nannies take turns staying 24 hours a day with them. We take our own formula, clean water, clothes and often have to go to a pharmacy to buy the meds prescribed by the doctor. God is preparing just the right family to adopt this beautiful baby. Please remember you must live in Tanzania three years before you can adopt. Neither Neema Village nor Social Welfare receives money for adoptions.

Gideon #2, above, came to Neema in March. He is from the same family as our beloved gardener David Massawe who was killed in a car accident this year. The family realized the mother needed a blood transfusion after the birth and tried to get her to the hospital but they were too late and she passed away.

Gideon, above, is getting his first bath at Neema. Hopefully his family will be able to take him home when a family member is able to keep him. You may not know but Neema Village has reunified 84 babies back into their family unit. Many of them we still help through our Outreach program. Once a Neema baby, always a Neema baby!

Ibrahim #2 was born March 18th, his mom and dad had two girls and was so excited to have their first boy. Sadly later the father received a phone call that her blood pressure had fallen too low and she passed away.

Such a worried look little Ibrahim, above. Don’t worry sweet baby, Neema Village will take good care of you until you can go home to your father who loves you very much.

Ernest, above, was abandoned in a grave yard. The police were able to identify the mother through the hospital blanket. She had been afraid to let her parents know she was pregnant.

Once the police learned her story they decided not to take her to jail. Our hearts go out to these young girls. We have heard many of their stories from being kicked out and living on the street, to the threat of being stoned, they are too afraid to tell their parents. This family has come together now and they have been able to take baby Ernest home. Praise God another family saved!

Daudi, with his grandmother above, was born out in a Maasai village and only weighed 4.6 lbs. He was born in the same village as our first two babies, Franki and Meshack. His mom was 45 years old and had six children. When she began to hemorrhage they realized she was in trouble. They tried to get her in to the hospital but she died on the way.

Daudi is a beautiful baby now and hopefully he will be able to return to his village soon. We are hoping to do some training in safe birthing techniques out in this village.

Israel’s mom was fifteen years old when she had her first baby at home. In a Maasai village where there is little medical care, she simply bled to death. The baby only weighed 4.5 lbs. The nannies are calling him Israel because they cannot pronounce his Maasai name. He was in bad shape and had a ringworm on his head when he was brought in to Neema Village. I see such deep sadness in his eyes. It is a sadness beyond words.

After a few weeks at Neema, Israel is now a beautiful healthy baby. With God’s help he will have a beautiful life. But his mom’s short life is done. We lose so many Maasai moms in childbirth, I’ve heard it is like a major airplane crash happening every day but no one is reporting it, there is in no newspaper story, there are no marches to save the mothers, no banners, no t-shirts, no Oprah Winfrey. Who will cry for these moms?

If you remember after Rehema (in the yellow above) had the baby and they realized he was not going to be like other kids, the dad asked her to get rid of the baby. She said no. When she would not agree he brought his family in to ask for the baby. She found out they intended to kill him and again she said no. Survival of the fittest was practiced in the old days out in the villages. They would take a baby like this and put him outside the thorn bush fence for the hyenas. Rehema was holding tight to her baby and again she said no. We see this time and again with these moms of special needs babies that we work with here in Africa. They clutch them with a fierceness of “you’re not taking my baby.”

Anna above going to see Rehema at her room.

That is when Kim, Kassie and Anna went to see her. After listening to her story Kim told her, “At every step of the way, you made the right decision, the hard decisions, the choice for life and your family. God has heard you and now He will bless you. You have come in contact with His people. You’re going to be okay.”

Then they brought her to Neema Village and the MAP Center where our other moms were meeting and singing together. The MAP mom’s songs are not only loud and boisterous but healing and powerful. When Rehema joined in the singing Kim knew, yes this was the right decision. (Special Needs moms and nannies singing below)

Rehema has found friends and other moms with special needs babies. She will be starting her new MAP business soon and after talking with Kim and Anna her landlord has forgiven her debt and given her a place to set up her little store.